Australia’s overpriced housing is something I’ve been trying to suss out for a while now. I wouldn’t claim I’ve got to the bottom of it but I’m convinced planning is a big part of it. But there are also tax issues, a lot of vested interests who’d be hurt badly by a collapse and so spend a lot of time talking the market up, and related to that, a lot of talk of a shortage in housing stock which may in fact be entirely mythical. All I’m really sure of is that there’s no good reason for house prices to be this high in one of the largest and emptiest nations in the industrialised world, and that it can’t last indefinitely. Some say it’s already hit the buffers and is going to rebound in a big way soon.